Man held over fatal stabbing in Carlow town

A man is being questioned by gardaí in relation to the the fatal stabbing of another man in Carlow town early today.

Marcus “Murt” Brennan (46) was attacked at his home on Frederick Avenue, and the alarm was raised at around 1.30 pm.

The suspect, who is in his 20s and was known to the dead man, was arrested and taken to Carlow Garda station.

He was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and under which he can be held for up to 24 hours without charge.

Gardaí are awaiting the results of a postmortem on the remains of the victim before deciding whether to upgrade it from a suspicious death to a murder inquiry.

The investigating team is trying to establish the events that led to the killing of the victim, who had a history of substance abuse, violence and public disorder.

Brennan was well known to gardaí and was on bail at the time of his death on a number of charges including intoxication in a public place and possession of a knife.

He had over 40 previous convictions and at one sentencing hearing in 2005 Kilkenny Circuit Criminal Court was told he was abusing drugs including heroin when he robbed the EBS in Kilkenny in 2003 armed with a hammer.

The house where Brennan was found dead was sealed off pending the arrival of forensic experts and a pathologist from the State Pathologist’s Office.

The body of the dead man remained in the property and underwent a preliminary examination in situ by the pathologist before it was due to be removed for a full postmortem.

Gardai investigating the killing are also conducting door to door inquiries in the vicinity of the house where the fatal knife attack took place.